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A lot has changed since Helen Hurlbut helped found the real estate investment firm Equiton in 2015. It grew from three employees to over 175. One property became 35.
But with more than 10,000 investors and almost $1 billion of assets under management today, there are some things that have not changed.
Hurlbut and founder Jason Roque still have the same sharp eye for value, and they still have the same commitment to delivering attractive returns for their investors.
During a recent interview with Wealth Professional, Hurlbut looked back on the decisions that have made Equiton so successful, while sharing her thoughts on what will contribute to its success in the years to come.
Hurlbut arrived in Canada as a child from Czechia. She earned a business degree from York University and became a CPA, and then rose quickly in the finance industry, serving in various roles as controller, treasurer, VP, and CFO at a number of real estate firms before starting Equiton.
Asked why she made the jump to help Roque form Equiton, Hurlbut said it came down to two key reasons. They both had built up a deep knowledge of Canadian real estate, and they could see powerful trends that would make property an increasingly attractive investment. Equiton was founded with the vision of making private real estate accessible to all Canadians.
“We came in when things were looking positive for real estate,” she says. “Supply was continuing to decline, especially in multi-residential properties, while immigration was starting to rise. “It was a good market to begin with, and it’s just continued to strengthen.”
That’s as true now as it was then. Today, Equiton manages 35 properties in 17 communities, and demand for their rental units is stronger than ever. With an average occupancy rate of 97.8 percent across all of its properties as of the first quarter of this year, Equiton has recorded 87 months (as of August 2023) of positive returns, while having little trouble meeting its targeted annual net return of eight to 12 percent.
While part of this success can be attributed to Hurlbut’s early recognition of trends that would see supply slow as demand soared, a great deal of work goes into selecting the specific properties that will maximize returns.
That was particularly important at the beginning, when Hurlbut and Roque knew the purchase of their first two properties would set the tone for their new company.
“We had to seed the fund ourselves with the purchase of our first two properties,” Hurlbut explains. “We had to showcase that they were good purchases right from the beginning, and this really resonated with a lot of investors.”
“It let them know that we weren't new to this business, that it wasn't anything that we had to learn from scratch.”
The careful due diligence that found Equiton its first two properties in Stratford and Brantford remains a hallmark of the Fund's approach today.
“We look at so many in order to buy one,” Hurlbut says. “And we take a very conservative approach, using metrics like interest rates and gap-to-markets to identify the return that we need.
“We target an annual net return of eight percent to 12 percent, and our goal is to underpromise and overdeliver.”
This due diligence goes well beyond crunching numbers. Hurlbut says their research of potential properties extends to looking at the local job market, scouting nearby industries, and even walking around the neighbourhood.
“We want to make sure that both the macroeconomic and microeconomic factors are supportable,” she says. “We go through each unit, and we understand the demographic in the building. “We conduct thorough research and evaluate various factors going beyond the financial metrics. Our comprehensive approach helps us make well-informed decisions.” In this search for value, Equiton is looking farther afield than its initial base in southwestern Ontario. The company recently bought two properties in Edmonton, and they are currently working on a new project in Ottawa.
Helen's strategic decision to move the property management function in-house led to the development of Equiton Living. This move resulted in cost savings through greater control over operations. It improved resident satisfaction levels via reduced response times and better influence over functions critical to providing excellent service to residents. It also helped identify value-creation opportunities that were realized through insightful, active management, resulting in higher returns for investors.
Hurlbut attributes much of Equiton’s success to the firm’s growing workforce. Equiton’s culture, she says, is key to maintaining the entrepreneurial energy that has helped the company become so successful and grow to over 175 employees. “One thing Jason and I said right at the beginning was that we need to hire the senior-level positions first. You don’t hire an entire department from square one, you hire people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and build a really effective department as we grow.” Hurlbut says building a customer-centric culture is one of their key focuses. Equiton’s growing human resources team helps effectively communicate the firm’s culture and values, while ensuring the staff is supported with initiatives that improve well-being and performance. This encompasses company-wide customer-service training, as well as an intensified onboarding program that instills Equiton’s core values from the beginning. “Right from the start we embraced an entrepreneurial mindset," Hurlbut says. “We strive to be agile and quick-thinking because this ultimately translates into success.”
Every journey has its speed bumps. Asked about any concerns with the current economy and the months to come, Hurlbut says she doesn’t see any significant hurdles. “Apart from some issues with higher utility prices, I don’t see any surprises. We're very fortunate not to be exposed to any variable-rate mortgages, and we have about seven years left on very good borrowing rates.” Even during COVID, Hurlbut says, Equiton was able to respond quickly to mitigate any problems. Bad debts were less than one percent during the pandemic, thanks largely to better control over property-management functions and the ability to make decisions quickly, she adds. Hurlbut remains excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. “I don't have a crystal ball, but we're still on a growth trajectory,” she concludes. “We're in our ninth year, we're approaching a billion dollars in assets under management, and we've got over 175 employees. “It’s incredible. I am excited about the future.”
We invest in residential and commercial properties and have significant and growing assets under management. Our exponential growth is a direct result of our leadership team’s deep understanding of real-estate investing, and its expertise in navigating the real estate industry to produce long-term wealth for our investors.